romanian orphan studies institutionalisation

• what was rutters study?

  • Rutter followed 165 Romanian orphans for many years
  • They aimed to see how good care could make up for the poor experiences 
  • They assessed them at 4,6 11, 15 and then 22-25
  • When they first arrived to the UK half of them showed signs of delayed intellectual development 
  • Those adopted before 6 months their IQ was 102, 86 for 6 months -2 years and 77 for those adopted after 2 years 
  • Children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment  which was attention seeking and clinginess 
• what was zeanah et al study?

  • Zeanah et al assessed attachment in 95 romanian children from 12-31 months
  • 19% of them was securely attached whereas 74% of the control group was
  • 44% of them were disinhibited attached 
• what real world application can we get from instituinalisation?

  Led to experience in looking after children Institutions are seen as undesirable options Key workers for emotional care Institutional children have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided 
• what is a strength from the studies in institutionalisation?

  Romanian orphanage Institutional children came from loving parents who could not afford them anymore Highly likely to not be confounded by other negative early experiencesso fewer confounding variables
• what is a limitation for institutionalisation?

  Quality of the institutions were very poor and children received little stimulation and comfort May show effects of poor institutional care instead of just normal 
• what is wrong with the studies in instituinalisation?

  Only looked at them until mid 20’sDo not have data to study the long term effects It would take a long time to gather this data